Diplomacy on break: Kosovo Foreign Ministry pages for new recognition

Spain, Greece, Slovakia, Romania and Cyprus are five EU member states that do not recognise Kosovo as an independent state.

Some of them have expressed reservations as far as recognition is concerned, without a final agreement being reached in the dialogue process between Pristina and Belgrade.

Kosovo's “government will participate in dialogue with Serbia with clear principles and with the goal that the final agreement, in addition to interstate issues, include mutual recognition among states, recognition by the remaining five EU member states, as well as membership in UN”, says the Kosovo Government Programme 2021-2025.

The part of the government programme dedicated to foreign policy, primarily focuses on increasing Kosovo's international subjectivity through new recognitions, as well as membership in international organisations.

The Kosovo government in a response to Radio Free Europe said it is still in the initial phase of preparation for approaching the dialogue process in Brussels.

Late in April, European Union High Representative for Foreign Policy and Security Josep Borrell warned a possible meeting between Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Serbia's President Aleksandar Vuciq.

Prime Minister Kurti has confirmed that he will participate in the resumption of dialogue, but has required time for preparations for this process.

In the last three years, Kosovo has been recognised by only two states. Barbados in February 2018, as well as finally from Israel, with the mediation of former US President Donald Trump.

MPJD doesn't talk about recognitions

During these years, Kosovo faced a tough campaign by Serbian diplomacy, which repeatedly lobbied for attracting Kosovo state recognitions.

Serbia's campaign and news that some states have drawn recognitions created dilemmas for the exact number of states that have recognised Kosovo.

On the MPJD site, the names of 117 states that have recognised Kosovo are currently marked.

Radio Free Europe has asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora what the new strategy will be to ensure new recognitions.

REL has also called for answers from MPJD, which states and regions will be priorities for Kosovo diplomacy.

However, this institution has not returned answers.

The Need for Strategic Review of diplomacy

According to the former Kosovo ambassador to Italy, Alma Lama, all diplomatic energy should currently focus on recognition by the five European Union states that have not recognised Kosovo.

The recognition of five EU countries would have to be a requirement in dialogue, because this dialogue is conducted by the European Union for normalising relations with Serbia and should be finalised with a final agreement, which would have to include guarantees for recognition by the five countries in question. Otherwise it would be meaningless”, says former Kosovo Ambassador to Italy Alma Lama.

To achieve this, Lama sees positive the fact that the foreign policy of the EU is led by Spanish politician Josep Borrell, who comes from a non-recognitional state, as well as that the Kosovo dialogue process -- Serbia -- is mediated by Slovak Miroslav Lajcak, whose state is reluctant to recognise the state of Kosovo.

“Including the automatic recognition of these five countries with an agreement that will bear the stamp of the European Union, so between Kosovo and Serbia, I think it should be Kosovo's fundamental requirement in this” dialogue, Lama said.

Lama suggests that under the new strategy to ensure recognition, the Kosovo government will also engage international diplomats.

Spahiu: Israel's recognition angered other Middle East countries
In addition to the five EU countries considered the most important, Kosovo has failed to provide many recognitions from both Arab and Latin American countries.

Former Kosovo Ambassador to the US and Turkey Avni Spahiu, now retired, says Kosovo's reports with Arab countries have been hurt after Kosovo diplomatic relations were established.

We have to renew our reports with Arab countries, but we dare continue to work with those countries that have not yet recognised us in the Middle East region. We also have to work with the Latin American region. Now with the recognition we have received from Israel, we will have an additional argument to lobbie at these” locations, Spahiu said.

In September 2020, two senior state delegations of Kosovo and Serbia, in the presence of former President Donald Trump and US administration officials, agreed on an agreement aimed at economic normalisation.

But documents that then signed Kosovo Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti and Serbia's president, Aleksandar Vuciq, had more political character.

One of the major political points was the requirement that Kosovo for a year not seek membership in international organisations.

Serbia was obliged to ban its diplomatic lobbie campaign to various states of the world, to withdraw decisions on recognising Kosovo's independence.

The establishment of this moratorium, according to former Ambassador Avni Spahiu, has damaged the strengthening of Kosovo's international subjectivity.

Serbia has been using this time, the mortorium, to add its pressure to various countries not to recognise Kosovo, but also to cancel recognition”, Spahiu said.

Although the Washington agreement issue has been highly discussed so far, the government headed by Albin Kurti has not given a clear stance on whether to implement this agreement or not.

This agreement, at the time of its arrival, was criticised by current Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti.

Procrastination and Jamaica scandal

Since 2017, Serbia had launched a campaign led by former Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic to convince states to withdraw decisions on recognising the state of Kosovo.

Daciq had declared that 18 countries had returned to the decision. Among them: Sao Tome and Príncipe, Suriname, Guinea Bissao, Burundi, Liberia, Papua New Guinea, Lesto, Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, Union of the Communists, Solomon Islands, Madagascar, Palau, Togo, Central Republic of Africa, Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Nauru.

Peace over the number of recognitions had caused Kosovo's own institutions in the past.

A scandal with recognition had occurred in February 2020, when Kosovo President Hashim Thaci had announced that the state of Jamaica had recognised the state of Kosovo at the time.

But shortly after he posted a status on the social Twitter network, Jamaica Foreign Minister Kamina Johnson-Smith denied the news.

This diplomatic failure was due to charges between former President Thaci, former Foreign Minister Glauk Konjufca, and former Kosovo Ambassador to the US Vlora Citaku. / REL